Category: Non-fiction
Rights: All rights available
Designing India: 1947 to the Present is a pioneering publication that presents designers from various disciplines and fields, such as textile design, system design, institution makers, architects, product makers and social designers. India’s recent design history is a unique archive of a nation and a society remaking itself after gaining independence from a colonial power and reimagining itself as a welfare state, with state-managed capitalism, as well as private entrepreneurship. Subsequently, the liberalisation brought about a market-oriented economy and now more recently, there is a renewed focus on social inequality, artisanal livelihoods and climate change in which technology, resource management and social needs converge. Design in India has been revivalist, functionalist, and futuristic, at various turns.
This book focuses on a range of individual makers; they have driven design even when working within Indian institutions because all spheres of the nation required personal leadership, patronage, and intellect. While bringing focus to important designers and their impactful, signature projects, we also look at lesser-known professionals who transformed the design landscape. This includes engineers, hereditary craftspeople as well as image-makers and tastemakers who visualised how design would be presented to the public and how publics could be made for specific tastes.
The approach of the book is to be a critical celebration of makers and design in India. The fact an individual is included in this book is a mark of their importance; after noting this, each writer takes a more analytical tone, critically observing a specific project or object to discuss their contribution to Indian design history.
The editor: Annapurna Garimella